Intercessory Prayer

. . . men always ought to pray and not lose heart —Luke 18:1

You cannot truly intercede through prayer if you do not believe in the reality of redemption. Instead, you will simply be turning intercession into useless sympathy for others, which will serve only to increase the contentment they have for remaining out of touch with God. True intercession involves bringing the person, or the circumstance that seems to be crashing in on you, before God, until you are changed by His attitude toward that person or circumstance. Intercession means to “fill up . . . [with] what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ” (Colossians 1:24), and this is precisely why there are so few intercessors. People describe intercession by saying, “It is putting yourself in someone else’s place.” That is not true! Intercession is putting yourself in God’s place; it is having His mind and His perspective.

As an intercessor, be careful not to seek too much information from God regarding the situation you are praying about, because you may be overwhelmed. If you know too much, more than God has ordained for you to know, you can’t pray; the circumstances of the people become so overpowering that you are no longer able to get to the underlying truth.

Our work is to be in such close contact with God that we may have His mind about everything, but we shirk that responsibility by substituting doing for interceding. And yet intercession is the only thing that has no drawbacks, because it keeps our relationship completely open with God.

What we must avoid in intercession is praying for someone to be simply “patched up.” We must pray that person completely through into contact with the very life of God. Think of the number of people God has brought across our path, only to see us drop them! When we pray on the basis of redemption, God creates something He can create in no other way than through intercessory prayer.

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求什麼？

常常禱告，不可灰心。 （路十八1）

    你若不深信救贖的實在，就無法代求；因為你只會把代求變成對人類無可奈何的同情，徒增人的自滿自足與神隔絕。代求，是把激動你心的那個人或事，帶到神面前，知道你被神對那人那事的態度所推動。代求是[補滿基督患難的缺欠]，無怪乎代求的人那麼少。很多人說代求是[設身處地的為那人著想]，不！代求其實是把自己放在神的位置上，從他的角度看事物。

    作為一個神的工人，你所知道的實情是神要你知道的，否則便會重壓難當。知得過多，過於神要你知道的，你就無法禱告；因人的景況把你壓下去，以致你不能進入現實去。

    我們的工作是在凡事上與神聯繫，可是我們卻因做個活躍不已的工人，而推卸這個職責。我們拼命做一些可統計的工作，但不做代求的工作。代求是完全沒有纏繞網羅的，因為可使我們與神的關係完全敝開。

    代求時要當心的，就是不要草草了事。心靈必須著實地接觸神的生命。試想神在我們生命的路途上，叫我們遇見多少的人，而我們卻輕易的讓他們溜走，若我們踏穩在救贖的根基上禱告，神就會創造除代求以外無法成就的新事。

祈禱◆主啊，願你高舉我，使我靠近你，以致你那完美的閃耀著喜樂的救恩，能為著你的榮耀而臨到我和照亮我。求你保守我，讓我向你的代求通行無阻。